Selfish Children
by MorningMorrigan
Summary: He, Lord Nobunaga, wasn't supposed to be losing to a child. There wasn't even supposed to be an opponent, but did she have to a child, and did she have to be so unbearably selfish while ruining his dreams? / Pokemon Conquest, One-Shot, bad grammar.


**HEYYY** _so i just finished playing the main story of Pokemon Conquest (mostly because I've been restless, having finished US/UM as well as nuzlocking Black) and decided to write this inner monologue (aka oneshot) from Nobunaga's POV. I might do more with this idea-I love Conquest a lot, and the characters intrigue me?-and maybe I'll write a novelization in this universe. IDK, i just know i won't be posting anything that i haven't completed. Aight, you've read my ramblings enough, here's the basic disclaimers:_

 _I don't own Pokemon Conquest, the only thing I've done is the plot of this, so yeah. And, um, bad spelling/grammar incoming, so, apologies. (Abuse of commas, just a heads up!)_

* * *

He was a little boy, then, the man reflected, staring at his opponent across the field. The teen met his glare head-on with a gaze full of compassion. When he chose his dream—to unite all of Ransei—he couldn't have been older than ten. He didn't become a warlord until his late teens, probably around her age as well. The difference, between her and himself, was that _she didn't want to_. She was living her dead half-brother's dream, completing it because he couldn't, and instead of feeling nothing, he felt pity for the girl.

They weren't really that different, were they? He hated the war going on for a child's dream—because, pulling together seventeen idealistic, selfish people was a fool's wish, and children were fools—because of a prophecy that couldn't be real. But, here he was, the black Rayquaza as his partner, facing off against the girl with the _creator_ ; Arceus. He didn't feel envy, he didn't feel anything but pity.

The warlord he was facing off with didn't want to do this, couldn't care as long as she was happy, and, god, wasn't that the dream? Here he was, being selfless, and here she was, being selfish—because, let's admit it, the girl wasn't nineteen yet, she's still a teen, _children_ , they're selfish—and, lord, he wished he could be as selfish as she was. She had everything he didn't. She had a life, she had people who respected her and worshiped her _and she had someone to love_. Selfishly, all children loved selfishly. He couldn't hate her, Lord Nobunaga didn't hate her, but he couldn't help but pity her.

She wasn't _even nineteen_ , she was working with people so much older than her, she should have been living her life out normally. But no, because her dead older half-brother left her with a letter and a set of keys and told her to live for him, manipulating her into believing a _dead man's last words_ as the words she had to live by, all because she was born out of wedlock and ruined Aurora's reputation—but no, the girl was stuck fighting him in some half-thought out way because of her older brother, who she loathed? (So he assumed, because he would at least _dislike_ someone who did that to him.)

But, watching her, _lord was she selfish_. How she refused to sacrifice any one of her aides for a warrior, _how did she inspire loyalty?_ Why was it that Kenshin and Shingen—the War Titans themselves—followed her over him? Why did Motonari and Motochika just _join_ her? She didn't even have to fight them, they just joined her—like parents picking favorites. Why did her warriors love her? Why did one dive in front of a knife for her, when she just kept sacrificing them to make sure her aides were able to complete their missions?

How did she differentiate between the important and unimportant? He would like to ask, once this was all over. Which, he knew it would be over soon, because, somehow, this selfish girl was winning, beating him, with people who should have hated her but instead respected her. This selfish, manipulated teenager was beating him with Arceus, and he would like to know _how_ this happened.

Because, as he stated before, he was selfless and she was selfish, and he shouldn't be losing right now. Why did Nobunaga always have to lose? He would just lose everything. _Why_? Is it because he was focused on the long-term? Got too caught up in the idea of peace that he overlooked the idea of war? Lord Nobunaga did not know, and he knew he never would.

This selfish teen would make sure that everyone knew that she won, that they had to stop going to war with each other, because she united Ransei. She had _everything_ that _he_ wanted. The real kicker was that she hated having been wrong about the truth of the prophecy, because she hated fighting almost as much as Nobunaga hated the war-torn Ransei. He loved his country almost as much as she loved herself. Why was she selfish? Maybe that's why he lost, because he couldn't even leave a person behind. She just let them drop like flies, and here he was, each defeated look on his aides' faces as they told him they lost, tearing his dream to pieces. He knew he was doomed to fail when Spectra fell. It was pure luck that one of her aides got sick and they had to stop, because she was in love with the aide

* * *

 _A child has beaten me_. Why couldn't he just let that go? Technically, she wasn't a child at eighteen, but she sure acted like it. She even looked like it—the color of the clothes she wore made her look like Mitsuhide's _eleven year old_ daughter—and she sounded like it, and her words had a child's innocence in the non-severity of them.

"Ha." He snorted, patting the great, black dragon. Everyone paused, to stare at him in disbelief. He was sure he was smiling, because _his_ little sister was crying in relief—Oichi, he could go on for ages on his darling little sister who _betrayed him for this selfish teen_ —and this girl was smiling at him, and, for some reason, her ultramarine blue eyes were glowing with understanding. He never studied the girl this close before—when did they _ever_ get this close?—so he relished the chance now. (Maybe the reason people followed her was her beauty?)

The girl had sunburn on her cheeks and nose, and freckles scattered all over her face. Her nose wasn't upturned as he thought it was, but rather straight, with a slight bump in the middle. Her lips were unbalanced—the top one was too large in comparison with the bottom—and her round chin had a scar on the bottom of it. Her eyes, however, were the only heart-stopping thing about her. The ultramarine blue color of them did not belong on the face of a child, and the sparkles of silver in them did not make her look any younger. Both eyes had deep bags underneath them.

She wasn't beautiful—he wouldn't even call her attractive, not compared to No or even Ginchiyo, but she didn't hurt to stare at. _The word was plain_ —but the unnerving gleam in her eyes made him reconsider that decision. He could understand the boy's infatuation with this warlord; he could imagine the gleam would change with every mood.

"I dreamed of the unification of Ransei since I was small boy. How did you, at not even nineteen, a mere child, manage to defeat me?" He asked, stepping back so he could announce the question to the whole group on the tower. "I want peace in Ransei, and I believe that conquering is the only way to achieve it! And yet...a _child_ ,who isn't extraordinary in any way, manages to beat Lord Nobunaga?" His mouth felt dry, he wondered what he was doing. Nobunaga never loses his control, because he loses everything else.

"It was never me. I never wanted...all of this." She answered, and the boy grabbed her elbow, warning her. Nobunaga wondered how the boy could love a creature so selfish. "All I wanted was to live my life. Perhaps that is selfish, but I've seen too much pain in this past year that I do not regret wishing that. I regret ever leaving my home when I was a small child, I regret ever leaving Aurora, because, perhaps if I stayed, you would have beaten Isamu, and I wouldn't be here, because I would have died, not him. I do not regret, however, standing here now. Perhaps now that this over, perhaps...perhaps I can be left in peace. Perhaps I will be left alone, left to my own devices in some obscure corner of the region. This is not my labor, and I'm not interested in seeing the fruits of someone's work." She finished, and Nobunaga felt a smile on his face. The warlord facing him nodded in respect.

"I believe that you need to reevaluate your choices, and decide for yourself if they were selfish or selfless, and then think about this: how was Nobunaga's method different from yours? Lord Nobunaga does not believe himself a saint, but compared to you, he is." He raised a hand, and Rayquaza sat up. He mounted the dragon, and the "heroine" smiled at him, just a small upturn of the lips, but it was enough to show him that she agreed with him.

That's the trait of all children—Nobunaga thought, wordlessly directing Rayquaza towards the mountains—they understand things far to well, especially the selfish ones. He wonders what the future holds for the girl, the so-called heroine, and he somehow knew that she was going to disappear for some time, just to think about her actions.

He wonders if it keeps her up as much as it keeps him up. Perhaps they'll see each other one day, when she grows up and he...well, Nobunaga was never one for human company.

* * *

 _ **SO N** obunaga is OOC. The girl he's referring to is the Heroine and the boy who Nobunaga refers to is Hanbei. (Seriously why is his art so flipping adorable? like AHHHH.) I like that pairing the best, idk why, so yeah._

 _So the idea of Nobunaga seeing himself as a martyr to his cause came to me as i was playing, because he obviously believed that he was doing the right thing and i pictured him as the villain who truly believed he was doing the right thing, the right way. And i got the idea that he would die to unite Ransei if he had to. The heroine/hero was just thrust into their position, not even given an option if they want to go against Nobunaga, so that's why the man pities her. (the reference being her controlled by her dead brother)._

 _Um...i think that should answer any potential questions...? This is mostly just an unedited piece of something that could be beautiful, but, eh. Thanks!_

 _-Morrigan ;D_


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